If you’re looking for evidence of just how carefully – and how duplicitously – the campaign of vilification and harassment now known as #GamerGate was planned, from the very beginning, there’s perhaps no better place to find it than in the chat log from the IRC channel #burgersandfries.

The channel, launched when the Zoe Quinn “scandal” first erupted in August, has served as a virtual meeting place for hundreds of 4channers trying to dig up dirt on Quinn and her supporters and spread this information/disinformation as widely as possible.

Today I would like to focus on some of the dirty tricks that 4channers and others on the channel have been using in their attempts to ruin the life and careers of Quinn and her supporters, tricks that were discussed surprisingly openly.

The tricks I’ll focus on today are spamming, doxxing, and sockpuppeting – including impersonating women/people of color in order to make the #GamerGate movement seem less obviously a white male-dominated reaction to outspoken women in video games.

The quotes below can all be found easily in the log of the IRC chat using ctrl-F. IRC conversations can be hard to follow, with multiple overlapping conversations going on at the same time; in some cases I have removed some of these comments, as well as some others that seemed confusing and/or redundant, indicating all cuts with ellipses. If you have any questions about what I removed I urge you to check the original context of the quotes in the log itself.

SPAMMING

Shortly after the Zoe Quinn “scandal” broke in mid-August, the 4channers on #burgersandfries were eager to spread the dirt, real and imagined, that they had on Quinn as far and wide as possible. One of their original tactics was spamming 4chan itself with posts and graphics pushing their anti-Quinn agenda.

Indeed, some of the board members organized mass spamming campaigns to make sure that 4channers saw their messages. Here’s one of the organizers sending marching orders to potential spammers on #burgersandfries.

Aug 18 19.16.08 <hresvelgr> at 8:36 EST MAKE A NEW THREAD ABOUT IT ON /v/at 8:36 EST MAKE A NEW THREAD ABOUT IT ON /v/ Aug 18 19.16.09 <hresvelgr> at 8:36 EST MAKE A NEW THREAD ABOUT IT ON /v/at 8:36 EST MAKE A NEW THREAD ABOUT IT ON /v/ Aug 18 19.16.09 <hresvelgr> at 8:36 EST MAKE A NEW THREAD ABOUT IT ON /v/at 8:36 EST MAKE A NEW THREAD ABOUT IT ON /v/ Aug 18 19.16.10 <hresvelgr> at 8:36 EST MAKE A NEW THREAD ABOUT IT ON /v/at 8:36 EST MAKE A NEW THREAD ABOUT IT ON /v/

A few minutes later, one of his allies offered this tip to get posts past 4chan’s anti-spam filters:

Aug 18 19.20.37 <ayyylmao> MAKE SURE TO OPEN THE PIC YOU USE IN PAINT AND ADD A BLACK DOT AND SAVE IT IS NOT POSTED ALREADY

When the appointed hour arose, the spam organizers – including channel mod Cyberserker – fired the starting pistol:

Recognizing that if they too blatantly mentioned Quinn their threads would be deleted as spam, they talked about ways to get past the mods:

Aug 18 20.26.37 <hamburgerhelper> so if you want to keep spamming you have to obfuscate

I’ll have more on their attempts to publicize the charges against Quinn — as well as to spread her nude photos — in a later post.

DOXXING

By the time #burgersandfries started up, much of the dirt on Quinn – including her nude photos – had already been revealed. But 4channers on the channel continued to try to dig up dirt on her and her supporters.

Some defenders of 4chan insist that there was no “doxxing” on #burgersandfries because no one there talked explicitly about hacking Quinn and others in order to uncover her private information. And, indeed, I have yet to see evidence that anyone on the channel was involved in hacking.

But this is a rather narrow definition of “doxxing,” and certainly those on the channel would be surprised to hear that there was no doxxing going on, because they quite openly talked about their doxxing, and use the word freely – some 646 times over the course of the time period covered in the log.

Here some of the channel’s doxxers discuss shelling out money for the personal information of one of the “five guys” Quinn allegedly slept with:

In addition to doxxing Quinn’s supporters (and alleged paramours), the 4channers have been digging deeper into her life and into her family history:

Aug 23 20.10.17 <Agent_Cooper> Off topic but I found stuff that ties Zoe’s family to lobbying President Woodrow Wilson over Tobacco and Oil

There’s much more there; I hesitate to post more because to do so would be a further invasion of Quinn’s privacy.

SOCKPUPPETING/IMPERSONATION:

4chaners are widely known as enthusiastic users of sockpuppets, and they’ve spoken about this quite openly on the #burgersandfries channel, with some even admitting plainly that they planned to troll Twitter in the guise of women and/or people of color in order to make it appear that their crusade was not dominated quite so heavily by white guys.

The #burgersandfries crowd were quick to take up the #notyourshield hashtag on Twitter, which evidently originated on 4chan itself as a pseudo-grassroots campaign by women, people of color, and/or LGBT folk allegedly fed up with “Social Justice Warriors” criticizing gaming.

Sep 03 01.19.15 <AnimeJustice> I have a picture of me and a black girl i know … Sep 03 01.19.19 <AnimeJustice> I could play pretend

Other #burgersandfries chatters talked about impersonating “Social Justice Workers” in order to win over – and exploit – the trust of Quinn and others:

Aug 25 03.10.37 <akiyuki_shinbo> wait what are we plotting Aug 25 03.10.42 <sangria> i don’t even know Aug 25 03.10.44 <sangria> but i like it … Aug 25 03.10.52 <temet> to pose as a SJW that watns to game dev Aug 25 03.10.56 <akiyuki_shinbo> oh Aug 25 03.10.58 <Dudebrogamer> @temet I think the best way is the simplest way… have a pro dev reach out to the poor oppressed indie girl. easy to make friends, looks legit etc Aug 25 03.11.04 <Shakes> Something about infiltrating SJWs I think … Aug 25 03.11.23 <sangria> lol Aug 25 03.11.34 <temet> but her defences are too high right now Aug 25 03.11.38 <temet> so we have to check out … Aug 25 03.11.40 <temet> like with our detaisl Aug 25 03.11.45 <akiyuki_shinbo> whoever does this would have to dye their hair Aug 25 03.11.49 <Shakes> That’s the great comedy of this situation Aug 25 03.11.49 <akiyuki_shinbo> and grow out a jewfro Aug 25 03.11.49 <sangria> lol Aug 25 03.11.53 <sangria> get tattoos … Aug 25 03.11.56 <sangria> and a septum piercing Aug 25 03.12.02 <Dudebrogamer> lol temporary tats Aug 25 03.12.06 <sangria> lol Aug 25 03.12.07 <akiyuki_shinbo> henna

Another 4channer fantasized about deceiving Quinn while posing as a SJW:

Aug 26 03.06.40 <mib_ipe1yf> actually what you should do … Aug 26 03.06.46 <mib_ipe1yf> is get close to her and pretend you’re SJWs … Aug 26 03.06.55 <mib_ipe1yf> earn her trust and her favor … Aug 26 03.07.04 <mib_ipe1yf> and then backstab the backstabbing bitch Aug 26 03.07.07 <Keirnoth> i have too much pride in myself to do that mib

Still another arrived independently at a similar plan several days later:

Sep 03 23.36.41 <cosmicboy> GUYS GUYS GUYS!!! why don’t we pose as an SJW looking for help and see what ‘help’ she actually provides? … Sep 03 23.36.55 <CreeperEsq> @cosmicboy Psyops? … Sep 03 23.37.07 <cosmicboy> creepesq exactly … Sep 03 23.38.59 <cosmicboy> sefam we could make a fake infographic about some random girl who got abused on 4chan … Sep 03 23.39.17 <cosmicboy> and then pretend to be that random girl

While others debated how to pull off a convincing imitation of a girl on the internet:

Aug 26 13.22.36 <maximumtacos> be subtle …

Aug 26 13.22.46 <maximumtacos> these people are evil Aug 26 13.22.49 <maximumtacos> but not completely stupid Aug 26 13.22.57 <maximumtacos> i mean they’re STUPID on one level Aug 26 13.23.01 <maximumtacos> but they’re also not retarded Aug 26 13.23.10 <Guest17627> also, make the account more pretty, like you are actually a 13 year old just learning hte internet Aug 26 13.23.21 <Cyberserker> ^ Aug 26 13.23.23 <maximumtacos> why Aug 26 13.23.26 <Guest17627> use sailor moon wall if you ned to … Aug 26 13.23.32 <Cyberserker> You should have put a lot of numbers in your name Aug 26 13.23.33 <maximumtacos> no anime stuff Aug 26 13.23.42 <maximumtacos> is MM actually trying to be an underage girl Aug 26 13.23.44 <Cyberserker> Like anime_fan666xXx Aug 26 13.23.47 <maximumtacos> and then catch a dev hitting on her? Aug 26 13.23.50 <Csiko> Sailor Moon stuff is good, numbers isn’t Aug 26 13.23.56 <maximumtacos> why is sailor moon stuff good Aug 26 13.23.59 <maximumtacos> im losing the plot here guys Aug 26 13.24.08 <maximumtacos> i thought the idea was to infiltrate them on twitterAug 26 13.24.11 <Cyberserker> I don’t know how girls think Aug 26 13.24.12 <Guest17627> maximumtacos, then bratz the fairy stufff, Mlp or something Aug 26 13.24.13 <maximumtacos> not pretend to be a fedora anime fan … Aug 26 13.24.21 <Csiko> trust me Aug 26 13.24.22 <Cyberserker> Girls can’t be fedoras Aug 26 13.24.26 <anonCo> I think this is fueling them, tbh. Aug 26 13.24.28 <maximumtacos> you are useless at pretending to be a girl Aug 26 13.24.31 <maximumtacos> bratz? Aug 26 13.24.37 <maximumtacos> theyll see right through it all Aug 26 13.24.52 <maximumtacos> i was a 14 year old boy on the internet once Aug 26 13.24.54 <Cyberserker> I remember that shit Aug 26 13.24.55 <Guest17627> maximumtacos, I can be, since I used to be one… Aug 26 13.24.57 <maximumtacos> i know how to properly pretend to be a girl Aug 26 13.24.58 <Cyberserker> Uncanny Valley Aug 26 13.24.59 <Csiko> if you don’t go with Sailor Moon go with bishounen shit Aug 26 13.25.08 <maximumtacos> all the anime shit will just make them assume 4chan

Others fantasized about creating a robot army of fake SJW Tweeters:

Aug 18 22.44.39 <yetsturdy> i want a social botnet … Aug 18 22.44.56 <yetsturdy> yes Aug 18 22.45.01 <yetsturdy> augmented trolling. :)… Aug 18 22.45.10 <PEANESS> using neutral language processing to create realistic & generic SJW posts, creating reputations for many accounts … Aug 18 22.45.17 <PEANESS> which is something that i specialize in Aug 18 22.45.28 <nullspace> make it happen … Aug 18 22.45.35 <PEANESS> i don’t specialize in english very much Aug 18 22.45.35 <yetsturdy> PEANESS: that first part is a little silly … Aug 18 22.45.46 <yetsturdy> people will catch on to markov bots pretty quick Aug 18 22.46.00 <yetsturdy> they can be used to maybe generate initial followers, but not for long-term psyops Aug 18 22.46.23 <PEANESS> which is why it wouldn’t be original content, mostly Aug 18 22.46.26 <yetsturdy> if there were tools that made it really easy to manage many sockpuppet identities, then we’d have something good Aug 18 22.46.38 <yetsturdy> and better than sockpuppets: stolen accounts Aug 18 22.46.41 <PEANESS> it would be old stuff from old bloggers, repurposed with the words switched around Aug 18 22.46.49 <yetsturdy> mind-control, in a very loose sense. Aug 18 22.47.01 <platonicSolid> big dreams dude …Aug 18 22.48.05 <PEANESS> if you’re working with stolen accounts, you’re working on borrowed time … Aug 18 22.48.28 <PEANESS> they have their place, but if you’re going to annhilation instead of irritation then you need more Aug 18 22.48.57 <PEANESS> plus sjws have pretty strong friends groups that exist outside of tumblr; account stealings will be caught onto quickly

It’s a good thing that this is a bit beyond 4chan’s capabilities at the moment, because I have no doubt they’d do it.

In later posts I plan to talk more about how 4channers generated publicity for what became the #GamerGate campaign, as well as to delve more into their motivations – which in many cases have nothing even remotely to do with the “ethics” they like to pretend that their utterly unethical campaign is about.

EDIT: Due to some WordPress glitch involving the angle brackets, some of the names of posters were stripped from the quotes here. I’ve manually added them back in.

Like the woman on the left with the specs who has a patch of dark color/texture in between her boobs. What is that meant to be? I’m guessing creased fabric, but that’s not something that would happen if she was wearing a tight tshirt.

Wait, wait, whoooooa there, gang. I’m on your side! D: I even donated to the site recently because of David’s work in able to wade through this. I couldn’t.

Flying Mouse got it: I posted the comic for mockery purposes, especially in the context of this post. Sorry it wasn’t clearer! I was on Know Your Meme the other night and took a horrible wade through the brotastic comments, but I was too tired to comment more on that, other than that comic really stuck out at me as a load of “wtf, wow… just wow, really?”

Also, wanted to throw in that the use of “social botnets” to manipulate public opinion is pretty damn terrible, especially given their supposed goal of journalistic integrity, or whatever the hell that is at this point. It goes back to the idea of shit like this being Internets Outcry! if the government does it (Russia has a hired “troll army,” for example), but a-okay if it’s a private party.

Sorry for any confusion again! Didn’t mean to come off as another troll. D:

(Also, this threw me out of being a lurker because this has been a pocket of sanity in this whole Gamer Gate thing and I felt like this was a “safe space” to comment on it. It’s nice to see David’s analysis of why it’s all a bag of doublethink crap rather than this “fighting the good fight” nonsense being toted by what prior felt like the majority. Wanting to speak out against it is chilling, such as RH Reality Check getting an influx of bros recently, and the comments on their articles don’t often breech the triple digits:

And I think it’s telling more and more sites are beginning to either heavily moderate comments or disable them altogether. They’re starting to realise freedom of speech doesn’t mean anything if the freedom to drown out any reasonable discussion is a necessary by-product.

“I would love to know what kind of moms these guys had.”
Some of them had moms like me, an outspoken anti-racist, pro-LGBT feminist. My 19 year old son is heavily invested in this whole issue, and is bombarding me with the same talking points the trolls on this this site are trotting out.
Now, he has ASD, so I know empathy can be difficult for him, and I think I need to approach it from that angle. I don’t know what everybody else’s excuse is.
Still, as you can imagine, this breaks my heart.

“I would love to know what kind of moms these guys had.”
Some of them have moms like me, an outspoken anti-racist, LGBT feminist. My 19 year old son’s emails to me have enough 4chan talking points to fill up a bingo card and it breaks my heart.

Also, wanted to throw in that the use of “social botnets” to manipulate public opinion is pretty damn terrible, especially given their supposed goal of journalistic integrity, or whatever the hell that is at this point.

We Hunted the Mammoth tracks and mocks the white male rage underlying the rise of Trump and Trumpism. This blog is NOT a safe space; given the subject matter -- misogyny and hate -- there's really no way it could be.